History of Texas, together with a biographical history of the cities of Houston and Galveston; containing a concise history of the state, with protraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named cities, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families, Part 26

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing co., 1895
Number of Pages: 1532

USA > Texas > Harris County > Houston > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of the cities of Houston and Galveston; containing a concise history of the state, with protraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named cities, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 26
USA > Texas > Galveston County > Galveston > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of the cities of Houston and Galveston; containing a concise history of the state, with protraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named cities, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 26

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corporations engaged in mining, but also detrimental to the legitimate industrial growth of any region. Little as it may be realized by those who have suffered from ill- advised speculation in mining property, and undesir- able as the revelation may be to those who live by preying upon the credulity of invest- ors, it is certainly true that there are no isolated cases of marvelons subterranean wealth. If a bonanza in gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, or manganese exists anywhere in central Texas, it is becanse certain canses have acted to produce it; and if one such occurrence be known, others of the same kind probably exist in the same region. Still, it does not follow that the discovery by accident of one ore body necessitates a similar method for acquiring knowledge of others. Nothing is now more firmly established than the close relations of geologic structure and mineral deposition. Every competent mining engi- neer is a structural geologist, or he is wofully untitted for his profession, however well trained he may be in other very necessary directions. The really practical miner is often the best judge of the proper means of attacking a special problem in excavation, provided that it requires no knowledge be- yond the range of his own experience. But whenever any person, of whatever training and experience, assumes to pass an opinion upon valnes after simple inspection, without such knowledge of the structure and of the chemical composition as can come only from varied experience and thorough tests, he is arrogating to himself powers beyond the capacity of any human being.

No industry can be built upon such a foun- dation. Whatever may be the future of onr district, its development will depend upon its resources as they are, not as they are estimated by any individual, although correct statements

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

of fact will aid materially in attracting atten- tion from capitaliste. Unfounded hopes and guesses of inexperienced persons, if couvortod · into cash, may produce a temporary artificial excitement, which will certainly result in eventual disaster. The money which has already been honestly expended in the Con- tral Mineral Region by well-meaning enthn- siasts, often without competent advice, would have snfliced to determine the value of the resources of the tract if it had all been under- standingly applied. The amount actually expended in unnecessary work in one investi- gation would have given a fair knowledge of the economie valne of a vast area had it been used in a different manner. That this is not idle talk, bnt hard business sense, is proved by the fact that the writer has already been able in several instances to predict accurately the results of explorations in advance of the work, simply from his familiarity with the geologie structure, as ontlined in the first part of the second geological report.

AGRICULTURE.

SOILS.

The origin of all soils is from the decom- position of the rocks, clays, shales, and other matorial going to make up the ernst of the earth. . When any part of the earth's ernst is exposed to the influence of the rain and dew, the cold of winter and the heat of smm- iner, no matter how compact that material may be, it gradually decomposes and the particles wash down and make the soils of the valley below.

Then again the lichens, although in many instances they are of microscopic size, fasten themselves upon the rocks and there secrete an acid which gradnally decomposes the rocks, and the particles go to make up the soils.

The clays and other soft materials are more easily broken up and washed down by the rains, und they too onter into the composition of the soils. Again, growing upon this newly . made soil will be plants which in turn will die, and the material of which they are com- posed will combine with the rock material and form a soil somewhat different from that of purely mineral origin. The difference in the soil is often observed in the color of the two; the last, or that on top, is usually darker than that below, cansed by the large amount of vegetable matter contained therein.

The material from which most soils are derived has been subjected to this disintegra- tion several times since it was first deposited as rock material. The sandy soils are mostly made np from the sandstones of the different formations, which were in turn derived from the granites and other igneous rocks and deposited along the shores of the former oceans. The caleareons soils have their origin from the limestones, and the limestones were deposited in the bed of the old ocean, the material coming from the worn-out shells of the bygone times. A perpetual round of disintegration, mixing, and redeposition has been going on since the beginning, our soils being the work of all the ages. In the clas- sification of the soils some writers linve dis- tingnished them as sedimentary soils, being those which are in the immediate vicinity of the rocks from which they were formed, and the transported soils, being those which have been bronght from a distance. This classifi- cation will be well enough if the fact be kept in mind that nearly all the stratified rock material has itself been brought from another locality by the very same forces that are now transporting and depositing the other class of soils. There is no soil that has not at one time been rock. .

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

There are fifteen principal chemical ele- ments composing all soils, aside from many other elements that occur only in small quan- tities. These elements are: 1, hydrogen; 2, carbon; 3, oxygen; 4, nitrogen; 5, silicon; 6, chlorine; 7, phosphorus; 8, sulphur; 9, aluminmm; 10, manganese; 11, potassium; 12, calcinm; 13, sodium; 14, magnesium; 15, iron. Besides these elements soils often contain other ingredients which are, when in excess, quite deleterious to plant life.

These elements are contained in the prim- itive or granitic and metamorphic rocks, with little or no admixture of the elements or combinations caused by the adnixture of the acids with the basie elements. As there are no primitive or metamorphic rocks in that part of the State to which this report relates it will be mumnecessary to discuss the question of the mode of occurrence and the combi- mation of these elements in the primitive rocks. The soils of this part of the State are derived from the sandstones, limestones, and clay and shinle beds found in the district.

These stones and beds were originally formed by the disintegration of the material of the primitive rocks. The materials of the limestone were brought down by the rivers into the sei, and were finally deposited with the comminuted shells of the ocean in the deep, quiet ocean in bods us they are now formed. These limestones are composed principally of calcium, carbon and mag- nesium, with iron, silica, clay, bitumen, and other substances as impurities.

The sandstones were deposited along the sea beach, and are composed principally of silica, being nothing more than fragments of quartz. This material is bound together by clay or lime, and sometimes by iron.

The clay beds were formed in the shallow seas and along the estuaries and months of

rivers, and are principally aluminum silicate and carbonate of lime.

Soils are largely indebted to vegetable life for their fertility and for their ability to receive heat and moisture and to transmit it to the growing crops. This vegetable material after it has reached a certain state of decay is called humus. This material has no fixed chemical constituents, owing to the effect prodneed and the combination formed with other substances in the process of decay. Many soils owe their dark color to this material. It renders a soil more susceptible . to heat and moisture. It also canses the nudissolved particles of rock material re- maining in the soil to disintegrate and give up their unused material to form a part of the soil.

Texas justly lays claim to greater variety and rielmess of soil than any State in the Union. The black waxy, black sandy, black pebbly, hog wallow, gray sandy, red sandy, sandy loam and alluvial soils are each to be. found in the State, the majority of them in greater or less quantities in each section. About the best evidence of the richness and fertility of these varions soils that can be offered is the fact that commercial fertilizers, now so common in the older States and con- stituting as much a fixed charge on the agri- cultural interests of those sections as the seed necessary to plant the ground, are not need at all in Texas. Another fact worthy of mention in this connection is that there are thousands of acres in cultivation in this State that have been cultivated continuously for more than thirty years, which now yield as much per acre as they did when first planted. The principal soils of Texas are the black waxy, black sandy and alluvial lands of the river bottoms. The other varie- ties are minor divisions, and for the purpose

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

of this report a brief description of these only will be given.

The black waxy soil, so called from its color and adhesive qualities, is the richest and most durable of the soils of the State. It constitutes a large percentage of the prai- rie region, and is better adapted to the growth of grain erops than other soils of the State. It varies in depth from twelve inches to many feet, the average depth being abont eighteen inches, and is not appreciably affected by the washing rains so injurious to looser . soils.

One of the largest bodies of upland black prairie in the United States extends from Lamar county, on the Red river, southwest in an irregular manner to a point south of San Antonio, in Bexar connty, with a width of 140 miles on the north end, 100 in the . middle, and about sixty on the south end, and embracing twenty three and parts of twenty-six counties.

The black sandy soil covers a very large area of the State, and is very productive and casily cultivated. It is highly esteemed for gardening purposes and fruit-growing. It is very loose and requires care and attention to prevent deterioration from washing away the surface. Portions of the timber region, counties bordering on the timber bolt of east Texas, and also the Cross Timbers, contain more or less sandy land.

The alluvial soils of the river bottoms vary in quality according to the territory drained by the streams on which they are located. River soils east of the Brazos river partake more of the waxy character and are stiffer than those on the Brazos and streams westward that drain the sandy lands of the northwest. The Brazos river bottom is re- garded as the most valuable in the State, on account of its fertility and comparative im-

innity from overflows. The lower Brazos is in the heart of the sugar-growing belt, and its bottom lands in that section are consid- ered equal to the best in the sugar-producing region of Loni-iana.

The variety of crops that Texas soils are capable of profitably growing is as yet lin- known. For information in regard to the products that are grown, and the yield per acre of the soils here described, the reader is referred to the reports of the various counties under the head of "Agricultural and General Statistics."

TIMBER GROWTH.

The area of timber in Texas is much greater than it is generally supposed to be by persons not familiar with the country. By many people outside of the State it is re- garded as a vast "treeless" plain; but this, like many other opinions of the State formed at a distance, is wide of the mark. In the prairie region the bottoms along the streams and ravines are skirted with timber, and in most places there is that happy admixture of prairie and timber land that so delights the heart of the farmer. Besides this, eastern and southeastern Texas is covered with a denso forest of fino timber, embracing nearly every variety grown in the South. The re- ports to the State Agricultural Department show that there are 35,537,967 acres of timber land in the State.

The "Cross Timbers" is the name given to two irregular belts of timber varying in width and entering the State on the Red river on the north and running in a southerly direction across the prairie regiou.

The "Lower Cross Timbers " run from a point on Red river north of Gainesville, in Coeke county, south to the Brazos river, in

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

McLennan county, a distance of about 135 miles, and has an average width of from ten to fifteen miles, interspersed at irregular in- tervals with small prairies.

The " Upper Cross Timbers" leaves Red river at a point further west, passing south through Montague county, at the lower edge of whiell it divides, the eastern portion pass- ing south through Wise and Parker counties to the Brazos river, the western veering farther west and extending south into Erath county.

The timber growth of the Cross Timbers is principally post and black-jack oaks. Ou the streams and lowlands ash, hackberry, peean and cottonwood trees are found.

On the gray sand hills in eastern Texas the timber growth is mainly serubby post and black-jack oaks. On the black sandy land the timber is generally of the same kind, but of more perfeet growth. The red lands . are covered with hickory, red and post oaks, with a few sweet and black gum and elm trees interspersed.

In Newton, Jasper, Tyler, Orange, Hardin, and parts of Sabine, Angelina, Trinity, San Augustine, Nacogdoches, Polk, San Jacinto, Shelby and Panola counties, long-leaved pine grows in great abundance.

. Short-leaved pine, interspersed with hick- ory and the curious oaks, is fonud from Bowie county, on the Red river, south along the eastern edge of the State, finally merging into the long-leaved pine region. The area of the pineries, both long and short leaved, is estimated at 25,000,000 acres, capable of producing 64,587,420,000 feet of merchant- able lumber. Along the streams, especially the larger ones, walnnt and ash timber is abundant. In the southern part of the State, near the gulf, and west, bordering on the plains, the live oak is a prominent growth.

It is found singly or in clumps on the prai- ries and in the elges of the bottoms.

The mesquite is a tree found more gener- ally in western Texas than any other. It is a common growth on the prairie. A prairie with a growth of mesquite six or eight years old resembles a peach orchard very much in appearance. The mesquite is a small, serubby tree, and produces a bean similar in size and appearance to the common cornfield bean. It is very nutritious and highly prized as food for horses and eattle. It has spread rapidly over the prairies within the last few years, and now furnishes firewood in many localities where a few years ago there was not a stick of any kind of fuel to be found. Cedar of stunted growth also forms a large part of the timber north and west of the Colorado river, and it is usually found on the sides and apexes of the hills and mountains. .

The peean tree, which produces the deli- cious pecan unt, is found on nearly all the streams, but more abundantly in southern and western Texas, where there are numerous pecan groves in the valleys and on the up- lands. Gathering and marketing the pecan erop forms no inconsiderable adjunet to the industries of that seetion. The pecan crop of 1887 was estimated at 9,000,000 pounds, valued at $5-10,000.

West of the one hundredth meridian the timber growth is very limited, being almost exclusively confined to the ravines and water- ways until the outlying ridges of the Rocky mountains are reached.

The mesquite tree is a species of gum- Arabic tree (Acaeia), lias very durable wood that shrinks but little in drying, and is thus well fitted for posts, rails, certain parts of . wagons, carriages and furniture. The bean is nutritions, fattening live-stock. This tree Tis taking possession of prairie tracts and

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

gradually rendering the land more valuable. The whole body of the wood is also rich in tannin, the rendering it a good tanning material. It is said, indeed, to be better than any of the old popular materials, as it etter preserves the leather.

ARBOR DAY.

In response to a growing public opinion in favor of forest planting, and to encourage and promote that objeet, the Twenty- first Legislature passed an act designating Febru- ary 22 of each year as " Arbor Day." If it shall result in aronsing a greater interest in preserving from unnecessary destruction the magnificent forests in the eastern part of the State and the planting and cultivating of forest trees on the bare prairies of the West, it will become a monument to the wisdom and foresight of the Legislature more en- during than any ever made of marble or brass. And this is the main purpose to be subserved by the setting apart of one day in the year for planting ont trecs. The mimber of trees planted out on such occasions is in- considerable compared to the requirements of any community needing the influence exerted by forest areas on the climate. But a be- ginning must be umde and the people grad- ually educated up to a proper appreciation of the importance of tree planting on a scale commensurate with the importance of the work. The beneficial influence of forest cover in precipitating rainfall and preserving moist- ure is now acknowledged by the best anthori- ties on the subject. The effect is seen in this State in the greater average rainfall in the timbered regions of east Texas as compared with the prairie regions of the west. The sitnations of the two sections with reference

to other conditions of rainfall, such as prox- imity to the gulf, topography, etc., are sub- stantially the same.

COTTON.

As will be seen by the reference to the summary of totals published elsewhere, the cotton crop of 1890 amounted to 1,692,830 bales -- an increase of 119,424 bales over the crop of 1889. The average production per acre was .41 of a bale, the largest number of bales ever reached in the State, and exceed- ing that of any State in the Union.

A fact worthy of note in this connection is that Texas has the largest acreage in cotton of any State in the Union, and would, under equal conditions of soil, climate and seasons, fall below the average production per acre of other States. On the contrary, however. as the above figures show, the average yield in this State exceeds that of any of the cotton- growing States, and thus the superiority of our soil and the adaptability of the climate in the production of the fleccy staple are clearly established. It may be stated with- out fear of contradiction, that no fertilizing . materials were used by any Texas farmer, ex- cept in cases where experiments were being carried on, while iu most, if not all, of the other cotton-producing States commercial fer- tilizers enter largely into the expense account of the cotton producer.

During the past four years the average yield per acre for each year lias been as fol- lows: 1887, .34 of a bale per acre; 1888, .38; 1889, .41, and 1890, .41. The average value of an aere of cotton, including cotton seed, for 1890 was $16.64. It will also be seen by reference to the previous reports of this department that there has been a con-

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

stant and steady increase in the acreage de- voted to the cultivation of cotton. This is partly due to the abandonment of wheat- growing in portions of north Texas hereto- fore devoted to the growth of that cereal, and partly to the opening of new cotton farms in the southwestern and western parts of the State, but not entirely. The increase in the cotton acreage has been inneh greater than the increase in population, showing con- clusively the tendency to an expansion of the cotton acreage to the exclusion of other crops on farms in cultivation during that period.

The fact that this has been going on in the face of strennous efforts on the part of the agricultural press and some of the lead- ing farmers of the country to induce the farmers to diversify crops and raise more grain and less cotton, would indicate that the average farmer thinks he knows best what crop is suited to our soil and climate and will yield the greatest return for the capital and labor invested. It is trne there are other crops that yield a larger average money value per acre in cultivation, but as a rule they enjoy only a limited market, and are sure to ,entail loss on producers when the demand is · exceeded by production. Sugar cane is about the only exception to this general rule in this Stato, but the heavy oxpense necessary to the manufacture of sugar prohibits a rapid de- velopment of the agricultural interests of the State in that direction. Another very im- portant consideration in accounting for the steady increase in the acreage in cotton is the fact that it is a sure money crop, and can be realized on at any time, even in markets re- mote from the great marts of trade, for its value at the mills, less the cost of transporta- tion; but the producer retains but little money in his hands after paying the cost of production.

Much time and attention is being devoted to the discovery of the cause of cotton blight, or root rot, which damages the crop and en- tails considerable loss on farmers every year. So far no satisfactory conclusions have been reached upon the subject. While this sub- jeet offers a wide field for investigation and research, and one worthy of the best efforts of the scientists, a more important question to the cotton-growers of Texas is the dis- covery of a cheap and efficient agent for the destruction of an inscet commonly called ino boll worm. The value of a remedy for the boll worm will be better understood by the following carefully prepared estimate of losses from that source for three years:

Years.

Bales.

Value.

1887

297,499

$11,897,960

1888

342,560

13,359,840

1889

428,572

17,578,832

Total

1,068,631 $42,836,632

The boll worm destroys cotton in all stages of growth, from the formation of the bud and appearance of the bloom to the boll ready to open, and is equally destructive in its effect at all times.

OORN.

In 1890 there wns a decrease of 135,655 acres in corn compared with the area of 1889. This is accounted for by the low prices at which the crop of that year was marketed. In many places farmers could find no sale for their surplus corn at all, and it was left at the merey of the weevil, which injures the crop more or less every year, especially in the middle and southern portions of the State. A heavy corn crop is usually followed by a decrease in the acreage in corn the following year and a corresponding increase in the aero-

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

age in cotton. The average production per acre was 14.38 bushels, which is an average yield during an unseasonable year, when we consider that Texas is not classed among the corn-producing States as a source from whence the demand for maize may be supplied. The average production in the corn-growing States for years, according to the National Depart- ment of Agriculture, was 24.2 bushels per acre.

The estimated annnal consumption for the past ten years was 28 bushels per capita. On this basis the account of the State, so far as it relates to the item of corn, would stand as follows: Bushels produced, 41,812,904; bushels necessary for home consumption, 62,594,644; deficit, 20,781,780.

WHEAT.

The returns for 1890 show a slight decrease in the acreage of wheat compared with 1889. The acreage in wheat for the four years past has been as follows: In 1887, 520,219; in 1888, 386,120; in 1889, 402,154, and in 1890, 359,440. There has been a constant decrease in the acreage in wheat in the north- ern portion of the State, where formerly the bulk of the wheat grown in the State was produced. This docreuse has, in a measure, been compensated for by the opening of new farms in the Panhandle, which is fast be- coming the granary of the State. The soil and climate of that section are admirably adapted to wheat-growing, aud with favorable meteorological conditions that seetion will supply the demand for home consumption and furnish a large surphis for exportation. The Secretary of Agriculture, in his report for 1890, estimates the consumption of wheat ut 4g bushels per capita. On this basis of

consumption the account of the State on the item of wheat for 1890 stands as follows: Bushels necessary for home consumption, 10,432,442; bushels produced in the State, 2,365,523; bushels imported for home con- sumption, 8,066,917.

The value of the wheat imported, at 65 cents per bushel, the average value of the crop, amounted to $5,243,496.05, which is approximately the sum sent out of the State for flour during the year.

The average production per acre is quite a decrease from the previous year, being 6.58 bushels, against 13 for 1889. There was a material decline in the average price per bushel, it being 65 cents, as against 71 for the previous year. The tendency to lower prices and consequent diminution of gross returns per acre in wheat has been very marked during the past ten years, as shown by the reports of the Secretary of Agriculture for 1890. The decline has been from $13 per acre to $9.97.

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Author: Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing co., 1895 Number of Pages: 1532

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing co., 1895
Number of Pages: 1532